[Quote:]
Americans are sharply divided by race heading into the first election in which an African-American will be a major-party presidential nominee, with blacks and whites holding vastly different views of Senator Barack Obama, the state of race relations and how black Americans are treated by society, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
The results of the poll, conducted against the backdrop of a campaign in which race has been a constant if not always overt issue, suggested that Mr. Obama’s candidacy, while generating high levels of enthusiasm among black voters, is not seen by them as evidence of significant improvement in race relations.
Fuck, guys, maybe you should wait and see what happens if Obama actually runs things instead of just trying to get elected.
Indeed, the poll showed markedly little change in the racial components of people’s daily lives since 2000, when The Times examined race relations in an extensive series of articles called “How Race Is Lived in America.”
Right. I wonder what happened in 2000… Oh, yeah, you elected the guy who is actually running things right now. Perhaps you should blame him instead…
Let’s get some other numbers from the very same poll, and see how the NYT rates on the “quality journalism” scale…
[Quote:]
a) More white voters say Obama cares about people like them, than say the same thing about McCain by 31 to 23
b) On the essential issue in this campaign - bringing about change in Washington - Among white voters, Obama is seen as the change agent by 52% to 30%
c) Obama’s 31% favorable rating among white voters is virtually identical to McCain’s, which is at 34%.
d) By a 2 to 1 margin over McCain, white voters are more likely to say that Obama would improve America’s image in the world
e) “Racial dissension” around Mrs. Obama’s 24% favorable rating among whites is an extremely odd description given that Mrs. McCain’s favorable rating among white voters is 20%.
f) Enthusiasm for Obama’s candidacy is roughly 2.5 times higher among white voters than is enthusiasm for McCain’s.
g) Obama is winning by 6 points against McCain and the gap among white voters is only -9 — a margin smaller than independent expert on voting patterns, Ruy Texiera, said would give Obama a ” solid win.”
h) though there is a six-point margin of error among black voters the NYT describes the 7-point change in black voters’ views that whites had a better chance of getting ahead as slightly higher than 8 years ago. Given that the Times reports horserace questions as statistically even when the margin falls within the margin, it seems that this shift from seven years ago among black voters is well within the margin of error.